YOLO is a lie.

The whole YOLO thing has always bothered me. For those of you who don't know, YOLO stands for You Only Live Once. For many people I knew, this was the term they used for the reason they did all kinds of ridiculous things. Every time they did something messed up they'd say, "Oh well, YOLO." I thought it would pass over time, but I still hear young people say this all the time.

YOLO is a lie. Let me say that again to be clear: YOLO is a lie. You only die once; you live every day. Every day you wake up, take another breath, and know you are alive is another chance to live the best life possible. Strive to live the best life you can. Some days you will fail; we all fail sometimes, but don't let that hold you back. New days bring new opportunities and another chance to live the life you have always wanted.

The big wake up call

I talk a lot about living life to the fullest. I'm a big believer in helping everyone to live the best life possible. However, I must admit that even I need a reminder from time-to-time to stop and smell the roses, be in the moment, and truly live. I like to call this little reminder a wake up call. Arguably, the biggest of all the wake up calls is the near death experience.

A near death experience will have you checking your priorities faster than any self help guru, book, or televangelist could possibly accomplish. This type of wake up call lights a fire under your butt like no other. It's unfortunate that so many of us fail to take a good, hard look at our lives until we are forced to. I think we all know better, but we get so caught up in the monotony of day-to-day living that we forget that there are more important things in life.

Oh, why am I talking about this subject? Well, that answer is simple. This past Labor Day I nearly broke my neck and drowned. Having grown up in Hawaii, I am a very good swimmer and body surfer. I'm not sure what happened on this particular occasion that was different. All I can say is: sometimes stuff happens. Sometimes stuff happens that alters the course of our lives in an instant, and that is why we must live the best life we can now. There may not be a tomorrow to try and get it right.

Fortunately, I survived - all praise, and honor, and glory be to God for getting me out of that one. I am in some awful pain and have some scrapes on my face, but I am alive. This was a huge wake up call for me. I hope that by talking to you all about this you will not wait until something like this happens to you before you start living the life you always meant to. Start living today. Don't put off the changes you desire for tomorrow, because tomorrow may be too late.

For a picture of my beat up face, check out my twitter profile. Don't get so caught up in everyday life that you forget to truly live. All of us need a reminder every so often, myself included, but don't wait for something terrible to happen before you catch the hint. Live, my friends, I mean, really live. Have a blessed week everyone!

Playing through the pain

This past week I had the opportunity to talk to a few young people about dealing with the inevitable hurts one encounters in life. One of the things every human being has in common is that we have all been hurt by someone in our lives. I wish it were not so, but being hurt by someone at some point in life is unavoidable.

What I was talking with these young folks about was how you deal with the hurt and live your life. We all change as a result of being hurt. However, I wanted them to understand that it is important to change for the better. It's too easy to change for the worst, and that is no way to live your life. For instance, when someone lies to us, it's to easy to decide to never trust anyone ever again. Now, let me be clear, I can completely understand when someone chooses to never trust again, but it is not a healthy way to live.

In professional sports, athletes often talk about playing through the pain; meaning, they have all been hurt at some point, but they make the effort to play at their best anyway. We will all be hurt at some point in life, but we must continue to do our best to live life to the fullest. If we do not, we risk becoming the hurt, angry, jaded version of ourselves who would rather shut the world out than risk being hurt again, and that's no way to live your life. We cannot completely avoid being hurt, but we can control how we react to the hurt. Never give anyone who has hurt you that much control over your life.

I often wonder how many opportunities we miss in life as a result of being hurt. I wonder how many dreams die for fear of being hurt again. I worry that far too many people choose to isolate themselves from the world rather than live, because they don't want to ever let anyone in. I'm not saying let people walk all over you; no, never do that, but you should make every effort to move forward and live the best life possible, even when you feel like you're not sure you can. We only get one shot at this thing called life, so live as full of one as possible.

Anyway, these are my thoughts this week. Take care, my friends. Have a wonderful week!